Vintage Quips and Poetry Spark Fictional Ideas

Vintage Quips and Poetry Spark Fictional Ideas

Authors’ ideas come from the strangest places. Here, I’ll share one rhetorical question and one brief bit of poetry, both published in USA Victorian-era newspapers (within 6 years of my title’s setting), that contributed to the writing of Isabella’s Calico Groom.

Book Review: ROMANCING THE BEAT by Gwen Hayes

Book Review: ROMANCING THE BEAT by Gwen Hayes

I found a book for writers, instructing how to plot a romance so all the essential elements are present, and the book was SO valuable, helped so much, I can’t keep this excellent find to myself. Come see my 5-star review for Gwen Hayes’s Romancing the Beat: Story Structure for Romance Novels.

Weather as a Fictional Character: The Marshal’s Surrender

Weather as a Fictional Character: The Marshal’s Surrender

Weather can be a character in a book, just like a person or an animal. In the case of The Marshal’s Surrender, Winter is a setting and a villainous character, hiding clues, endangering lives, impacting nearly every scene as a sense of place and timing. Have you ever thought of weather in the role of character?

My Writing Process, Part 2

My Writing Process, Part 2

Yesterday’s post, My Writing Process, Part 1 included: Branding, Software (Scrivener),  Ideas are Everywhere, and 7-Point Story Structure. Please consider visiting that post, as today’s picks up where yesterday’s left off. This article includes: Rough Draft, Second Draft, Beta Readers, Apply Suggestions, Format & Publish, Independent Publishing.

Why I Write Sweet Romance

Why I Write Sweet Romance

Somewhere along the way, authors determine what type of books they’ll write. What is their consistent category? What brings one person to write (and love) spicy romance while another writes (and loves) sweet romance?

I share my reasons for selecting Sweet Western Historical Romance (now more aptly categorized as Sweet American Historical Romance).